The Museum of British Colonialism

| 25 September 2018

AN EXPLORATION OF BRITISH COLONIALISM The Museum of British Colonialism has been realised to creatively communicate a more truthful account of British colonialism. We have a documentary and a pilot exhibition in the works and will use this site to gather, share, present and comment on material and r...

Britain should stop trying to pretend that its empire was benevolent

May 13, 2016 | 10 October 2018

Interesting 2016 article from Alan Lester, Professor of Historical Geography at the University of Sussex on Britain's attitude to empire and the racist underpinnings of the view that the empire was benevolent. Published in The Conversation.

MOD treating Kathleen Thompson family with 'contempt'

| 13 November 2018

The family of a Derry mother-of-six, shot dead in her own back garden, says Britain’s Ministry of Defence is treating them – and an inquest into her death - with complete contempt. Even the Coroner hearing the case has expressed deep disappointment at the MoD’s failure to confirm the identities of s...

Witness Appeal: Kathleen Thompson, Derry 1971

Facts about Atrocity: Reporting Colonial Violence in Postwar Britain

2 February 2018 | 22 August 2017

ABSTRACT What did people in Britain know about the violence of counterinsurgency campaigns at the end of empire in the 1940s and 1950s? In many ways, British knowledge about colonial violence was widespread. But it was also fragmented and ambiguous: whispered among family and friends; dramatized in...

Families challenge MoD and Prime Minister in London

PFC | 15 November 2016

British Prime Minister Theresa May warned the recent Tory party conference about what she called: "… activist, left-wing human rights lawyers [who] harangue and harass the bravest of the brave – the men and women of Britain’s Armed Forces". She also vowed to defend soldiers against "vexatious allega...

What price a life? May's rhetoric and the MOD's reality

Tom Griffin, Spinwatch | 16 November 2016

In the aftermath of the Brexit referendum, recent months have seen an increasingly chauvinistic tone in British politics. One aspect of this has been a concerted campaign against investigations of abuse by the Armed Forces. Conservative MPs have pressed Theresa May to curtail the activities of the I...

Northern Ireland families challenge May’s defence of army

British military assessment of Internment in 1971

The memo from the CLF (Commander Land Forces) to the CGS (Chief of the General Staff) shows that the military command were preparing for direct rule nine months before Stormont was abolished. It includes a fictional account of the "Battle for Belfast".

Memo to Secretary of State on security options-Feb 1978 (added May 2018)

1978 memo to SoS (author unknown) outlining security options and highlighting the 'danger signs' that the (British) army are deploying patrols for "suppression" and Intelligence" with no intention of arresting and charging suspects. The memo goes on to suggest that any 'drift' back to army methods and goals is the "road that leads to executive action against terrorists , rather...